Family Travel Ideas in London

Like metropolitan areas world-wide, London has many family-friendly attractions. Here are a few that shouldn't be missed.

The Tower of London

Though the Tower of London (Tower Hill tube station, buy tickets here to avoid long lines at the Tower) may be notorious for its prisoners and instruments of torture, it's definitely a family attraction. Stop at the Welcome Centre to pick up one of the brochures that plots out family-friendly routes through the palace, e.g. The Jewel House or the Medieval Palace. Each route is accompanied by games and activities that keep kids occupied as they explore the tower grounds. Yeomen Warders, better known as Beefeaters, conduct tours but won’t mind if some visitors are too young for the gory details. Just move on to another part of the palace.

The London Eye and London Aquarium

Kill two birds with one stone by visiting the London Eye and the Sea Life London Aquarium (Waterloo tube station) located next to each other on South Bank. The Eye is a large, slow moving Ferris wheel built for millennium celebrations and dedicated by Prime Minister Tony Blair on December 31, 1999. Rides on the Eye are called flights and take about 30 minutes to finish the full revolution. Purchase tickets in advance as the lines can be long, especially in the summer.

The Aquarium right next door reopened in April 2009 after a renovation that includes fish-eye access to sea turtles, cownose rays, and those perennial kid favorites, sharks.

The Science Museum and Natural History Museum

The Science Museum (South Kensington tube station) has especially intriguing and entertaining galleries for young children including toddlers, but older children won’t want to miss the iMax films and galleries dedicated to space travel, the future of technology, computers and more. The Natural History Museum is next door to the Science Museum. Feel the power of an earthquake, stay clear of the massive T. Rex jaws (they move!), and see how you measure up to the gigantic blue whale. Both are free.

London Transport Museum

Ride the real London Tube or a double-decker bus to the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden where kids can scamper through all manner of public transport.  Parents will be drawn to such exhibits as the recreation of a WWII bombing raid from the depths of a tube station. Download a Track it down trail brochure before you go to see what kinds of things there are to do in the galleries for children.